Hi everyone!
I'm so glad I found this group. I try to explain to my friends what it is like to be insatiably hungry (because of the prednisone) and I feel like no one understands this frustrating experience.

I've been on prednisone for basically 8 years, at various doses, for kidney disease.

2 weeks ago my kidney disease had a relapse, so I was on 70mg prednisone, and now I'm on 50mg prednisone for a couple weeks, and will hopefully eventually get back down to 10mg or so a day, as long as my kidney function is maintained.

Last year I was down to 12.5mg prednisone, and I worked really hard and lost 45lbs. Then since I went into kidney failure a couple weeks ago, and increased my prednisone, I've been insatiably hungry, and have gained 15lbs of fat. I feel just soo frsutrated! All the new clothes that I bought after losing weight last year don't fit now. And I'm so hungry that I really just want to eat everything I see.

How do you all cope with high doses of prednisone and the accompanying hunger?

To deal with the insatiable hunger, I drink so much water, I can almost hear it slosh in my belly! The hunger is crazy, huh? Nighttime is worst of all....cannot sleep, house is quiet.....not easy. What do others do especially with nighttime hunger?

I have been on Cortisone for 7 years now nonstop. I have been up and down and I dread all the time about being on it. It has changed my life in so many ways. I went from skinny to extremely obese, that would not go down until I reduced. Each time I reduced it would drop like 5 kgs. On top of the stretchmarks I have all over and the constant pregnant looking belly. I am finally down to a level where my face is not looking round and puffy but still have the circles and bags. Because I lost weight I have skin hanging which causes many issues in itself. I can not get surgery to remove since I am on many meds and still on cortisone, along with being over weight. Because I blew up my husband has lost interest in me and though it is not my fault we have marriage issues. In the beginning I refused to look in the mirror because I could not recognize myself. Now it is tolerable but still not what I remember. I used to not be in pictures with my young sons because I hated my self so much and did not want them to remember me looking like that. I eventually got over that and realized they needed pictures of me. The emotional swings you get from the drug are also intolerable and not well liked by my family, but again I try to not let them happen, but not always can I control it. On top of all it I go through hot flashes because the medicine has put me in a menopause. I can not tolerate change in temperatures too hot or too cold never an inbetween. In my profile picture you can see the biggest I got when I was on 65mg of cortisone to stop the disease of Wegeners before it killed me.